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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25526887">What Ties Me to You</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sassclops/pseuds/sassclops'>sassclops</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Mention of Batman/Catwoman, Past Relationship(s), dickbabs</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 08:35:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>659</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25526887</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sassclops/pseuds/sassclops</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Dick and Babs are faced with an all too familiar situation in the wake of Selina and Bruce's failed wedding.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>What Ties Me to You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Guests had been clearing out all morning since word of Selina’s departure had broken, everyone unsure of what to say as they shuffled awkwardly out of the Wayne Manor grounds. Even Dick, who was so famously rarely out of words found that he had nothing to say as the groundskeepers begin to tear apart the decorations. </p>
<p>No celebration for a wedding that would never happen. </p>
<p>“How’s he taking it?” A voice chimes in from behind, pulling him out of the abyss of his thoughts and anchoring him back to reality. He’d know Babs by voice alone at this point, and comforting as it is, he can sense the sadness coming off her in waves. They’d both wanted this for Bruce for longer than they can say and for a moment, it seemed he’d finally get that storybook ending.</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” he confesses, turning to face her. “Alfred said he isn’t really talking to anyone right now and I can’t blame him. Doesn’t mean I don’t want to help.”</p>
<p>She gives him a look that’s all understanding, reaching out to take his hand and he doesn’t pull away. They wear their masks well as always, Oracle and Nightwing in costume –ex-lovers who don’t sometimes wonder ‘what if’ out of their costumes. There’s an eerie familiarity that settles into his gut at the image of the groundskeepers removing all the wedding decorations, one that’s been unspoken between them since he left for his trip with Shiva. The trip that changed everything between them.</p>
<p>“Am I the only thinking about how this was almost us?” He finally says, breaking his impulse to hide otherwise. Reality is bitter like alcohol poured in a fresh wound, and losing Barbara was always the one wound that never quite seemed to close. Their chapter had ended on such an un-final note he’d been beginning to wonder if she was doomed to haunt all his ‘what ifs’ forever. She just might.</p>
<p>Silence simmers between them, Babs herself fighting the urge to push away the negative feelings and soldier on as usual. To be strong for him, for Bruce –but they owe themselves this honesty. “No.” She doesn’t like saying it, <i>I think about us more often than I want to.</i></p>
<p>“I always imagined our wedding would look a little something like this. Out in the backyard, smaller…but we’d have Donna, Roy, and Dinah front row.” </p>
<p>“Dick…” </p>
<p>“I know.” He cuts himself off before she can. No more tiptoeing around the inevitable. “Maybe what I’m trying to say is that you were always my favorite ‘almost.’ And maybe in another life…maybe it worked out for us.”</p>
<p>On some level, he’s hoping there’s still hope in this life, clinging to that thread like a lifeline. He doesn’t tell her that. She doesn’t tell him that she knows. </p>
<p>“Maybe in another life,” she settles, voice softer than she’s ever known herself to give. Her hand squeezes his in return, a subtle reminder that even now, she’s still here for him. Dick and Babs, Nightwing and Oracle, two beats forever following the same metronome. </p>
<p>Maybe one day, those beats will synch up again. Maybe one day, he’ll drop down on one knee for her again and make promises of forever they can actually keep, plan for the future that’s only ever been theirs to have.</p>
<p>“Babs?” he asks finally, peeking back at her. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad that I still have you in my life. That I never lost you.”  </p>
<p>“Never gonna happen, Short pants,” she says, passing him that trademark smile of hers that always works wonders on calming the storms in his heart. Peace settles in his heart, overriding the sense of longing he feels whenever they get this close –the Barbara Gordon effect he’ll call it. </p>
<p>It always makes him remember this too: a piece of him is forever tethered to her. And maybe, just <i>maybe</i> that's a blessing in its own right.</p>
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